


How to Survive a Kidnapping

by patchworkct



Category: Free!
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Bodyguard, Angst, Domestic Fluff, Fake/Pretend Relationship, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Friends With Benefits, Friends to Lovers, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Minor Matsuoka Rin/Nanase Haruka, Nanase Haruka & Tachibana Makoto & Tokyo, Police Officer Yamazaki Sousuke, Rin and Haru are bros, Walking In On Someone
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-01-30
Updated: 2021-03-12
Packaged: 2021-03-17 04:08:54
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 10,822
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29093997
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/patchworkct/pseuds/patchworkct
Summary: After Haruka Nanase, son of a wealthy business tycoon, gets kidnapped for ransom, his parents hire a bodyguard to look after him. Little did Haru know Makoto Tachibana would become more than just his bodyguard but his partner and accomplice to take down the company he is destined to inherit.
Relationships: Matsuoka Rin/Nanase Haruka, Matsuoka Rin/Yamazaki Sousuke, Nanase Haruka/Tachibana Makoto
Kudos: 33





	1. Ransom

Haru hit the concrete floor in a bruised heap. They had taken him to some sort of warehouse—not that he knew for sure with the burlap bag over his head. The fabric was itchy on his face and it smelt like dirt-crusted potatoes.

This was ridiculous. One minute he was walking to the corner store for some canned pineapple, and the next thing he knew he was yanked into a windowless van by some guys in ski masks. They put the bag over his head and sped away in the most erratic fashion possible. He must have hit his head on the aluminum wall ten times from all the sudden turning of the vehicle. You would think kidnappers would at least know how to drive.

He shimmied himself up to a seat, which was harder than he expected with zip ties around his wrists and ankles.

“Sit there and shut up!” a man barked at him.

Haru almost laughed. It’s not like he had said anything during this whole ordeal. He learned in self-defense training to never talk during a kidnapping. If there was a window for escape, take it, but other than that, just sit there and wait for help. So Haru sat on the cold concrete, more annoyed than scared, waiting for the cops to show up.

He heard hollow footsteps approaching—the clack, clack of expensive loafers Haru was all too familiar with.

“We got the kid, boss,” the man who yelled at him earlier said.

Someone yanked the burlap sack off his head, and Haru blinked back the harsh fluorescent light. The “boss” was a burly man in a three-piece suit wearing a privacy mask. He looked as if he had just come from a gala. Haru wished he could snap a picture of this and send it to Rin. “When you have a kidnapping at 8 but the Met at 9” he would have texted. He knew Rin would crack up to that shit. Of course, he couldn’t text because they had taken his phone out of the back pocket of his jeans in the van.

The “boss” nodded to the other goon in a ski mask with his phone.

“Call ‘em,” he said flatly.

Ski Mask Man nodded, holding the phone up to Haru’s face to unlock it, and scrolled through the few contacts he had until he reached “Mom” and pressed call. The phone rang four times on speaker until his mother’s assistant picked up.

“Hello? Haru?” she said, voice ringing with concern.

Miho knew something was wrong. Haru never called.

“We have your son hostage,” Ski Mask Man said. “If you don’t pay us 200,000,000 yen in twenty-four hours, we will send him through a woodchipper.”

His captors may not know how to drive, but at least they were creative. He knew he should have been scared, but honestly, these guys were probably going to do his parents a favor by sending him through a woodchipper. He knew his parents would never pay a ransom for him. He had to take matters into his own hands.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm so excited to be working on this new fic! I've always wanted to write Haru as a rebel "eat the rich" type. We'll see where this goes! <3


	2. Escape

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> With the help of a certain police officer, Haru makes his escape.

Sosuke was on break when he heard the call on the scanner that someone had kidnapped the Nanases’ son. They had traced the ransom call to somewhere in the shipping district where nondescript warehouses held products coming and going on massive cargo ships preparing to go out to sea.

Sosuke put his Italian sub down in the passenger’s seat of his cruiser and picked up the radio.

“Dispatch, this is officer Yamazaki responding to code 207, shipping district,” he said, putting his cruiser in drive.

He wasn’t too far from the docks, but he had to lay low. Kidnappers were always erratic, and you never knew how much fire power they had. He could only assume they had a full arsenal if they kidnapped the Nanases’ only son.

He rolled down the rows of shipping containers with his lights off. He stopped the car behind one when he saw the yellow glow of a cigarette in the distance. He knew that if anyone here saw a police cruiser riding around, word would get to the kidnappers pretty quick. It was better to proceed on foot.

***

“I’m goin’ for a smoke,” Ski Mask Man said.

Haru didn’t know what time it was, but he could tell it was getting late. Ski Mask Man’s buddy was slumped in a folding chair scrolling through his phone. Haru’s phone was face up in the middle of a card table, waiting for a call from his parents he knew would never come.

Suddenly the phone rang, but it wasn’t his. It was Ski Mask Man #2’s phone.

“Hey baby, what’s up?” he said. 

Haru could hear the shrill voice of a woman yelling through the receiver from his spot on the floor.

“I’m working! Can we not do this right now?” he groaned, turning away from his guarding place to take his argument across the room.

Now was his chance. Haru untied his sneakers and tied the string around the zip tie on his wrists. He lay on his back and did bicycle kicks until the friction of the shoelace on the ties snapped the plastic, freeing his hands. He glanced across the room where the man was still arguing with his girlfriend on the phone and quickly finessed the tie on his ankles open. He was free! But where could he escape?

He guessed Ski Mask Man was almost done with his smoke break, so he had to think fast. From what he could see, the warehouse only had one entry and exit where the man was smoking, but there were several garage doors where trucks could unload and load the shipping containers inside. To his left, there was a control panel looking box on the wall. Haru slowly crawled to it and inspected the buttons. There were at least five unlabeled red buttons, and he had no idea which one was the right one. Haru shrugged and mashed them all before sprinting behind a shipping container in sight of the door.

***

Sosuke drew his gun and crept around the shadowy alleyways of shipping containers to get a closer look at the warehouse where a man was posted up smoking a cigarette. Suddenly there was a rumbling, metal on metal screech of garage doors opening, the glow from the inside of the warehouse spilling into the night. The man chucked his cigarette away and dashed inside just as a man in a ski mask sprinted out one of the garage doors.

“Where’s the kid?!” the now cigarette-less man shouted.

“The hell if I know!” the man in the ski mask said.

“That little fucker,” he grumbled, to the man or the kid, Sosuke wasn’t sure, but it was evidence enough to call for backup.

He murmured the situation and the address into his radio as he made his way back to his cruiser. Then he saw a dark figure coming out of the warehouse door. Sosuke crouched back into the shadows as he watched a young man with dark hair and a dark sweatshirt look both ways before sprinting out the door.

“Dispatch, I think I just found Nanase,” Sosuke said into his radio.

He sprinted back to his cruiser, revved the ignition and turned on his lights and sirens. He pulled out from in between the shipping containers, fishtailing toward Nanase and opened the passenger door.

“Get in!” he shouted, and Nanase didn’t argue.

He swung himself into the cab as a stream of bullets ricocheted off the car. Sosuke hit the gas.

“Shots fired! Shots fired! Nanase is now in custody,” he rattled off into the radio. “You are Nanase Haruka right?”

The black-haired man pulled his smushed Italian sub from under him, red marinara sauce staining his jeans, and wrinkled his nose in disgust.

“Unfortunately, I am.”


	3. The Bodyguard

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Haru has a meeting with his mother where she has a proposition.

One of his father’s black SUVs came to pick him up from the police station. He was really not looking forward to facing his parents right now. He was tired, hungry, and covered in dirt and marinara sauce, so he was not particularly in the mood to listen to his parents somehow blame _him_ for getting kidnapped.

He opened the door and sank into the black leather seats with a sigh. His family driver, Gorou, eyed him from the rearview mirror as the SUV started to drive down the empty Tokyo streets.

“Hey, kiddo! Long time no see. You alright?” he said, trying to keep the mood cheerful.

“Could be better,” Haru mumbled.

Gorou used to drive him to and from school, and their conversations were more or less the same no matter what the situation was. Usually, Haru was miserable and Gorou tried to cheer him up. He appreciated the effort, but nothing could cheer him up when he was on his way to his parents’ residence. Haru usually ended up staring up at the sky through the tinted car windows. He watched the streets change from small mom-and-pop restaurants and corner stores to massive glass skyscrapers in the business district to the manicured shrubbery and gates around the upscale apartment buildings and townhouses in the “rich people district” as Rin called it. As if Haru himself weren’t rich—no matter how much he denounced his wealth.

The car pulled in front of his parents’ apartment building and the doorman, Ralph, opened his door for him.

“Good luck,” Gorou said.

“Thanks for picking me up so late,” Haru said. He really did feel bad about all the trouble.

His father would scold him for thanking the “staff” for doing their jobs, but even as a child Haru had gone out of his way to learn everyone’s names and thank them. It was his small form of rebellion back then.

Gorou tipped his cap to him.

“No problem at all! You be safe, now,” he said with a smile.

Despite everything, Haru gave him half a smile.

He entered the vast lobby of the building, scowling up at the crystal chandeliers and gaudy golden drapes. Rich people always had everything except taste. The tiger statues lining the marble column walls glared at him like they were ready to pounce, sharp fangs ripping through his neck. Everything here screamed “do not touch” and served no purpose other than making outsiders feel small.

He mashed the up button of the golden elevator and it opened immediately with a soft ding. Will, the elderly elevator operator got up from his small stool in the corner, ready to do the arduous task of hitting the penthouse button.

“Don’t get up, Will. It’s just me,” Haru said, pushing the button himself.

Will nodded and when the doors closed, he gingerly sat his tired bones back down on the stool. When Haru was a teenager, he used to sneak out on nightly walks. Will always kept his nightly travels down the elevator a secret from his parents. He was close to retirement now. He wondered if anyone in this building would notice when leaves.

The doors opened onto the penthouse floor and Haru was immediately reminded of why he left this place. The whole space was a clinical white with white furniture that he was always afraid to sit on. The marble floors made his footsteps sound hollow as if he were walking into empty space.

Miho, who was talking on her phone quickly finished up the call to greet him. Despite it being past 3 a.m. she was dressed in full business attire, not a wavy hair out of place.

“Oh, thank goodness!” she sighed.

“Hi Miho,” he said with a soft reassuring smile.

Out of everyone in this hollow place, Miho was always the one bright spot and the only person he actually talked to. Miho started working as his mother’s personal assistant when he was in middle school, and he honestly thought she was more of a mother to him than his own. It was why he had her number listed in his contacts as “Mom”. Even he had to go through Miho to get in touch with his mother.

“I’m so glad you’re alright!” she said, rushing to the entryway to give him a warm hug.

Then her face fell back into business mode.

“Your mother wants to see you in her office right away,” she said.

He sighed and nodded. _Let’s get this over with._

He dragged himself past the stark white living room past the full wall of windows showing the Tokyo skyline to his mother’s home office. Miho scurried ahead of him and knocked on the closed mahogany door.

His mother said a brisk “come in” and Miho let herself in with the ease of years of practice.

“Your son is here,” she said blankly.

He didn’t like how Miho had to dull her warmth around his parents. It was as if they sucked the life out of everything in their path. He took one more steadying breath and stepped through the threshold.

His mother was sitting at her large glass desk, sifting through paperwork. She didn’t even look up when he entered. He looked back at Miho who gave him one last apologetic smile before stepping out and closing the door behind her with a resounding click.

“I see all that money we spent on self-defense class hasn’t gone to waste,” his mother said.

Haru crossed his arms over his chest and let out a tch. As if money was an issue.

“What do you want?” he grumbled. It was better to just cut to the chase.

“Your father and I have decided that you need to assume your role as the future CEO of the company. You start tomorrow,” she said while opening an envelope with a golden knife.

“I just got kidnapped!” he seethed.

“And whose fault is that?” she said finally looking up and pointing the knife at him. “Your little mishap makes you look weak—it makes us look weak. The company can’t have that right now, not when the stocks are down this quarter.”

Haru felt his face get hot. If he could breathe fire, he would have had flames coming out of his nostrils by now. He clenched his fists at his side and stood his ground.

“No,” he clipped.

No one ever said no to a Nanase. His mother bit her lip and slammed her palm down on the desk, her 14-carat diamond ring cracking against the glass.

“We let you play ‘starving artist’ in college, but now you need to start taking responsibility. You should be grateful your father even wants to take you under his wing,” she shot back, her icy blue eyes frostbite on his.

“Sorry to once again disappoint,” he said, oozing with sarcasm he knew his mother hated.

“Haruka, whether you like it or not, you will someday have to run this company, so when your father gives you an invitation, you better take it,” she said.

Was that a threat?

“Or what? You’ll kidnap me? Because I’ve already been through that shit,” Haru snapped.

His mother looked at him blankly as if she were actually considering kidnapping him.

“I’m leaving,” he said after a beat of silence.

As he turned toward the door, his mother chimed in, “One more thing.”

Haru froze in place, shoulders tensing. This couldn’t be good.

“I’m sending you back with a bodyguard,” she said matter-of-factly.

“What?!” he shouted, spinning back around to face her.

“You’ve shown you clearly can’t take care of your own safety, so you will be monitored 24/7 so this incident never happens again,” she said.

“So what? You can spy on me? I’d rather be thrown in a woodchipper,” he said. 

“No need for theatrics, Haruka,” she said as she hit the call button on her office phone. “Miho, send the bodyguard in.”

“You’ve got to be kidding me,” Haru scoffed as he heard the door open behind him.

His mother calmly folded her hands on her desk, erasing the anger from her voice. It was all business now.

“Until you can demonstrate your commitment to the company, Tachibana-san will accompany you in your…life among the common man,” she said. “The company is the only thing that guarantees your safety and your future.”

“I wholly disagree with that. I’m going home,” he muttered, turning back around and pushing past the bodyguard’s wide shoulders.

Haru stomped back out into the entryway and punched the elevator button, but he bristled at a looming presence behind him. Tachibana stood stiffly in his black suit with his hands folded in front of him.

“Listen, I don’t know what my mother put you up to, but it’s not going to work,” he said turning to face him.

It was the first time he really got a look at him. He was young, but his green eyes seemed older. Still, he had a kind, non-threatening face, but his body was solid like he could punch a hole in a guy if he wanted to. His brown hair was slicked back, and his suit and dress shoes were well polished—professional. No wonder his mother hired him.

“My sole purpose is to protect you from harm, sir,” he said.

Haru wrinkled his nose. 

“Please don’t call me that. It’s gross,” he muttered.

Tachibana raised a thin eyebrow.

“Then what would you like me to call you?” he asked.

The elevator dinged and opened the doors. Haru turned and stepped through the threshold, pressing the lobby button before Will could get up from his stool. Tachibana followed him in like a burly shadow. 

“Haru is fine, but don’t get used to it. You’ll get sick of me and quit soon enough,” he said, watching the digital numbers descend above the doors.

“Is that a challenge?” Tachibana asked slyly.

“No,” he said as the doors opened back up into the gaudy golden lobby. “It’s a fact.”


	4. Haru

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Makoto learns a few things about his new client.

In the short interactions he had with Haru, Makoto learned three things about his unwilling client.

One: Haru was not as stuck up as he thought he’d be.

When he was assigned to the son of the wealthy Nanase family, he thought he would be chauffeuring him around from one rich social club to the next in the upper crust of the upper class. He didn’t think that he would instead be accompanying him to his favorite 24-hour ramen shop on a dusty street corner by a run-down train stop.

It was 4 a.m and Haru was starving, and he was honestly shocked when he asked him if he could bum 500 yen to eat. The kidnappers had taken his wallet and it was in some evidence locker at the police station now.

“I’ll pay you back,” he promised with a look of gratitude.

Makoto knew he was mad about him being here, but he got the sense that he didn’t blame him for just doing his job.

That led him to the second observation:

Haru lived a life almost completely independent from his parents and their company. In fact, most people Haru encountered didn’t even know he was the heir to a multi-billion-dollar enterprise.

“You can’t be walking around in a suit while I go to the ramen shop,” Haru had told him as they walked past the train stop.

That was another thing: Haru wouldn’t accept a ride home in the company car. He preferred to walk all the way home.

“Sorry. What should I be wearing?” Makoto asked.

“I don’t know…regular people clothes?” Haru said raising an eyebrow.

He couldn’t help but chuckle.

“I think I can do that,” he said, taking off his stiff suit jacket and draping it over his arm.

At least they got the dress code sorted out.

When Haru was done eating, he thanked the cook and they continued down the dimly lit streets until they got to the more artsy part of the city. Even in the dark, Makoto could see the colorful murals painted on the walls of the shops. A few pride flags hung from apartment windows. This place looked a hundred times more cheerful than the business district.

He followed Haru to an old townhouse building where he dug out a ring of keys on a Hello Kitty keychain and unlocked the front door. They proceeded through a narrow hallway and up a squeaky staircase. Haru paused at a door with chipped blue paint as Makoto took in the layout of the building.

“How does this work? Do you stand outside my door like a guard dog?” he asked.

“Nanase-san told me you would have accommodations for me,” he said, getting nervous.

He wasn’t sure if Mrs. Nanase even knew where her son lived.

Haru sighed, “Right…well, there’s not a lot of room.”

He unlocked the door and he followed him inside an average-sized Tokyo apartment. The room was clean, at least.

“I guess you can sleep on the couch,” he said, pointing to the worn faux leather sofa.

Makoto looked around the room. There were paintings hanging on every inch of the walls, all in different styles but generally, all of them were of the ocean. Haru padded in bare feet across the bamboo floors and turned on the kitchen light, which he could see through a tiny window in the living room wall. A small kotatsu sat against the wall with mismatched floor pillows.

“This is a nice place,” he said, following his client to the kitchen.

There was very little counter space, but from the looks of all the kitchen utensils hanging from the wall and shelves of spices, Haru used every inch of it to cook.

“It’s not bad. The neighbors have a yappy dog though,” he said filling a glass of water from the tap.

He could see that the cups in the cabinet were mismatched as well.

Suddenly he heard something fall behind him, and Makoto went into fight mode, sliding his body in between the threat and Haru.

“Saba! Quit knocking shit over,” Haru scolded, and that’s when he saw a black cat saunter into the kitchen.

Saba mewled and rubbed against his leg. Makoto bent down and pet the cat.

“Aw, he’s so cute,” he cooed, scratching behind his ears.

“He’s a demon in disguise,” Haru said. “He seems to like you, though. Usually, he just hides under the couch.”

Saba decided that he was no longer interested in Makoto’s scratches and jumped on the counter next to Haru. He picked up the cat and hugged him, which Saba barely tolerated, but even the cat could tell Haru had had a long night.

Morning light was now filtering through the small apartment window, and Haru looked out at the sunrise. The orange light caught against his dark hair and long eyelashes. His pale face was serene, deep blue eyes focusing on nothing in particular. His thin pink lips were slightly parted as he breathed a sigh of relief of being home.

Then came the third observation: Haruka Nanase was incredibly beautiful.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oop there it is! So excited! Things start picking up after here. Hope you enjoy :)


	5. Threat

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Rin finds out about Haru's bodyguard in the most dramatic way possible.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> get ready for some RinHaru action ;)

Haru ended up sleeping all day. He normally didn’t let himself sleep in for too long, but the previous night left him exhausted and in need of some privacy.

Tachibana’s watchful eyes had weighed down on him, but he hoped that the bodyguard would get tired of sleeping on his old couch and quit sooner or later. For now, he settled for hiding in his room. He knew it was a bit childish to ignore the elephant of a man in the room, but it had worked for him so far. It was how he got through his childhood, at least.

It was around 6 p.m. when he woke up from a fitful sleep to a tap on his window. He sat up and opened the small window by his bed and Rin crawled through from his usual spot on the fire escape, flopping on his bed.

“I’m gonna kill you, Nanase!” he grumbled.

Rin pushed his long red hair back, but the strands fell back into his eyes. His sharp teeth were bared but Haru knew it was all just for show.

“What did I do this time?” Haru sighed, closing the window.

Rin poked a finger into his chest with a black painted fingernail.

“You fucking ditched me last night…again!” he said.

“I was busy,” Haru said, looking away.

He really didn’t have the energy to explain all that had happened last night. Rin could get over his lack of attendance at the club.

“You could have at least answered your phone,” Rin grumbled, making himself at home on his bed, kicking his combat boots off and laying back on his pillows.

“I couldn’t. I got kidnapped,” he said nonchalantly, hoping Rin would drop it.

“Hardy-har-har. I’m not in the mood for excuses today,” he said, dripping with sarcasm.

Haru was silent. Rin shot up on the bed.

“Wait…Are you shitting me?” Rin asked.

Haru shrugged. Rin grabbed his shoulders and shook him.

“You actually got kidnapped. How?!” he shouted.

“You’re too loud,” Haru mumbled. “I was walking to the store and some guys snatched me. Tied me up and took me to a warehouse. Called my parents for ransom. I escaped.”

Rin released him with a sigh.

“Only you could make a kidnapping story sound boring,” he said, laying back on the bed. 

“Fuck you,” he mumbled.

“Please,” Rin smirked, playfully grabbing his ass.

Haru scoffed, “I’m going through a literal crisis and you’re _horny_ right now?”

“Uh yes? Keep up,” Rin said with a snide smile.

Haru groaned and plopped himself down on the bed next to Rin. He couldn’t believe he let this idiot take advantage of him, but everyone who had ever been with Rin knew he was addictive as fuck.

“You’re a garbage friend,” Haru complained, bumping his shoulder into his. Rin flipped over so that he was hovering over him, a competitive glint in his red eyes.

“Would a garbage friend suck your dick?” he asked, looking him up and down as if he were prey about to be devoured. Haru involuntarily shivered.

“With your teeth? Yes,” he said. Rin chuckled.

“Shut up,” he said, and then went in for the kill.

***

While Haru was asleep, Makoto circled the block around the townhouse and inspected the nameplates outside of the building. From what he could find, Haru’s neighbors consisted of a young couple on the third floor who were attending grad school at the local university and an elderly lady on the first floor who had a miniature poodle. Haru lived on the second floor in a two-bedroom apartment, which he quietly explored while Haru slept. The single bathroom in the apartment was small but there was a tub, which was considered a luxury in Tokyo apartments. The second bedroom had been converted into an art studio where a large easel stood in the middle of the room right next to a large window. The painting on the easel wasn’t finished, but it looked like it was the start of another ocean oil painting.

So Haru, the son of a business tycoon, was living under the radar as an artist. He kind of admired that—giving up the upper-class life to follow his dream. He didn’t know much about Haru when he took the job, but he was slowly starting to get to know him. It would probably make his job as his bodyguard easier.

In the afternoon, the Nanases’ driver stopped by to deliver Makoto’s suitcase, which he had hastily packed when he got the call for the job. He didn’t have much—just a few “regular people” outfits and two black suits. He didn’t like to take too many personal things on jobs like this, but he always kept a photo of his family in the inside pocket of his suitcase so that when he opened it up, he was reminded of home.

He was looking at the said picture when he heard a loud thud followed by Haru screaming in his room. Makoto pounced into action, sprinting out of the living room down the narrow hall to Haru’s locked door. Adrenaline pumped through his veins as he ripped the door open, breaking the lock and the door handle in the process. The door crashed against the wall and left a dent in the plaster. Makoto was ready to fight, but what he saw left him frozen in place.

Haru was naked on the bed with his legs wrapped around the waist of an equally naked man who was thrusting deeply into him, his sharp teeth buried in his collarbone. For a moment, Haru’s head was tilted back against the headboard, exposing the long column of his neck, covered in hickeys, eyes shut, mouth open with pleasure, back arched, both hands pulling the man’s long red hair. It was the most erotic thing Makoto had ever seen. Haru gasped and opened his eyes, and both he and the man turned their attention to Makoto who stood dumbly in the broken doorway. There was a beat of shocked, awkward silence.

“Get out!” Haru shouted hoarsely.

“Who the fuck is that?!” the red-haired man seethed, his red eyes burning holes into Makoto.

He felt the heat rush from his face to the roots of his hair.

“I-I’m sorry! I’ll just…” he stuttered as he yanked the door closed, but it didn’t close all the way because he had broken the doorknob.

He ran to the bathroom and slammed the door behind him. He let the sink run cold water against his hands before splashing his face. He took several breaths to calm himself and his…nether regions…down. He had definitely made a mistake by taking this job. He was completely in over his head.

***

“Haru! What the fuck?” Rin shouted, pushing him off his lap.

Haru lay back on the bed with his hands over his eyes. This could not be happening.

“I can’t right now. I just can’t,” he groaned.

Rin leaned over him and wrestled his arms away from his face.

“Talk. Now,” he demanded.

Haru sighed and sat up then proceeded to tell his friend everything that has happened in the past 24 hours. 

After he was done, Rin grumbled nonsense under his breath as he yanked his clothes back on, shoving his feet into his boots. He looked like he was about to beat the shit out of Tachibana, even though he could probably snap Rin’s spine in half. He broke the damn door!

Rin stomped out into the hallway, and Haru scrambled after him, putting on his boxers and an old sweatshirt. He didn’t care what he looked like. Tachibana has already seen it all.

“Why are you here?” Rin shouted at him.

Tachibana was sitting calmly on the couch, his suitcase in clear view on the coffee table. He was wearing jeans and a cream knitted sweater that screamed business casual, but his brown hair was not jelled down like how Haru had seen him yesterday, instead it was a tussled mess framing his face. He looked like any other 20-something-year-old who was about to get yelled at by his best friend.

“I am legally obligated to protect Haru from any threats,” he answered flatly.

Rin put his hand on his hip and scoffed.

“So being dicked down is considered a threat?” he said sarcastically.

“With you, it is,” Haru muttered under his breath.

“Shut up, Haru! Let me handle this,” Rin shouted, turning on him, full crazy eyes and hair flying out of place.

“If I had known Haru had a…friend…over, I wouldn’t have barged in like that,” Tachibana said.

“So he has to get your permission to have people over now?” Rin said, incredulous on his behalf.

Tachibana took a breath, obviously getting annoyed at Rin interrupting him.

“No, I’m just saying it would have been nice to know if someone was coming over so I could do a background check first…”

Rin threw his arms up in the air.

“I’m not trying to murder Haru. You happy?!”

“You literally just told me you were going to kill me,” Haru muttered jokingly.

Tachibana raised his eyebrows. Rin turned to him again like he actually might murder him.

“Haru! Shut the fuck up,” he hissed in between clenched teeth.

Okay, maybe he was having a little too much fun egging Rin on.

“Clearly, I walked into something I shouldn’t have, and I’m sorry for that, but there are people out there who actually want Haru dead, and it’s my job to keep him safe,” Tachibana explained, breaking Rin’s death glare.

“Wait a minute…who wants Haru dead? No one said anything about wanting Haru dead,” Rin said, giving him the side-eye. 

“Yeah, I thought they just wanted my parents’ money,” he cut in. 

Tachibana bit his lip as if he were thinking about what was safe to tell him, and that made Haru especially annoyed. Surely, he had the right to know things about his own life, about his own safety. He glared darkly into Tachibana’s soft eyes. For a man who could break doors and walls with zero effort, his eyes were kind, as if he were made of nougat inside. Haru could definitely exploit that.

“The police are doing a thorough investigation, but they have reason to believe that the kidnapping was motivated by more than the ransom,” he said carefully.

“So…that’s why my mother called you? To babysit me until the people who want to kill me are gone?” Haru said.

Tachibana nodded, “More or less, yeah.”

There was a beat of silence, and then Rin popped his lips.

“Welp, this is all sorts of fucked up,” he said.

Understatement of the century. Rin started toward the apartment door to make a dramatic exit.

“Haru, it’s been a pleasure. Tachibana…”

“Call me Makoto, please,” he said.

“…Right. Might as well. You’ve seen my dong,” Rin said making the other man blush a bit. Haru just looked annoyed.

Rin opened the door and waved a lazy hand.

“Chao.”

And Haru and Makoto were left alone in the apartment, awkward silence hanging between them.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I love the idea of Rin and Haru two bros sitting in a hot tub 0 feet apart because they are gay lol  
> Getting excited to finally write some MakoHaru content tho


	6. The Company

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After an awkward encounter with Haru, Makoto wonders if being his bodyguard is something he can handle.

_Well, that was the most mortifying thing I’ve lived through_ , Makoto thought as Rin left. Haru, however, was apparently already over it, walking to the kitchen as if nothing had happened.

He knew Haru never asked for any of this, and he was starting to feel more like a burden on him rather than any help. But he was getting paid to be here, and no one ever said no to a Nanase.

“About earlier…I really am sorry,” Makoto said as Haru bent over to rummage through the fridge.

Makoto averted his eyes as his boxers rode up his long legs.

“Wouldn’t be the first time someone walked in on me,” he muttered, grabbing a water and pressing the fridge door shut.

“Oh?” Makoto raised his eyebrows. Haru took a swing of water.

“Miho, my mother’s assistant,” he said. “Me and a guy from junior college were supposed to be working on a science project. We got…distracted.”

“Happens to the best of us,” he chuckled. Haru shrugged

“She was cool about it, though. Didn’t tell my parents,” he said.

Makoto didn’t know why he was telling him all this, as if he needed an explanation. But finding out more about him was like discovering another piece to a puzzle—a 3,000-piece, ass-backward puzzle. 

“Do your parents know you’re…?” Makoto tried, half expecting Haru to yell at him to get out again.

Haru’s normally stoic expression faltered for a second before snapping back.

“Miho helped me came out to them,” he admitted.

“How was that?”

“My father hit me with a paperweight. Broke my nose. Had to get it set back. It was a whole ordeal.”

Makoto was startled at how nonchalant he was about it as if he were talking about the weather or what he was going to make for dinner that night—not surviving an act of homophobic child abuse.

Haru’s cat emerged from the shadows (or under the couch) and jumped on the counter, mewling for pets. Haru stroked his fur, but his eyes stared out the window, far away.

Makoto stepped closer, scratching the cat’s ear with a gentle finger.

“My mom caught me with the Sports Illustrated swimsuit edition,” He said. “She must have figured out I wasn’t reading it for the articles. And I wasn’t looking at the girls either.”

He whipped his head toward him. It was Haru’s turn to be surprised.

“You’re…?”

“Gay? Oh yeah,” he chuckled, but Haru just looked at him suspiciously.

“Are you a creeper or something? How does a gay dude sign up to be another gay guy’s bodyguard?” he asked, crossing his arms against his chest.

“I honestly knew nothing about you when I got the job,” he admitted. “You don’t make it easy. No social media, no photos on google images, not even a single cringy school picture!”

“…that you know about,” he said with a smirk.

Makoto laughed, and Haru let out a rare chuckle. When it died down, Haru looked down at his bare feet, almost shy.

“So, are you out? To your parents, I mean,” he asked quietly.

“Yeah,” he said. “Dad was a little awkward about it for a while, but they accept it.”

Haru nodded, but he seemed like he was still in his own head.

After a moment of silence, he said, “I want to show you something.”

Makoto must have involuntarily flinched at the idea because Haru gave him a smile of reassurance.

“Don’t worry,” he said. “I won’t let anyone through the window this time.”

***

Haru emerged from his room in faded dark jeans and a navy Tokyo Aquarium sweatshirt with the same scuffed-up Adidas sneakers he wore when he met him. The autumn nights were starting to get colder, so Makoto convinced him to wear a jacket and a beanie. Haru rolled his eyes but complied.

They stepped out of the apartment building and into the street. Makoto’s eyes flashed forward and backward and in all directions as Haru shoved his hands in his pockets and looked straight ahead.

“Where are we going?” he asked.

“Samezuka,” Haru replied as if he knew what that was. “It’s a cub.”

“I don’t think going to a club right now is the best idea,” he said reluctantly, darting his eyes back behind them.

“The club is just a front. We’re really going in the back entrance. It’s pretty hush-hush,” Haru explained.

_A secret club?_

“okay…” he sighed. He hoped they wouldn’t run into trouble.

As they stopped at a crosswalk, Haru looked up at him as if he had just remembered something.

“A you can’t tell anyone you’re my bodyguard,” he said.

“Wha--?” he stuttered. “So what should I tell them, then?”

Haru bit his lip and thought for a moment, his blue eyes shining in the bright red light of the crosswalk.

“I’ll tell them that you’re my boyfriend,” he resolved.

Makoto wished his heart hadn’t jumped the way it did when Haru said that.

“Boy—what?! Can’t you just explain what’s been going on?” he complained.

“No,” he said flatly and then thought for another moment before telling him, “No one there knows who my parents are. Well, everyone except Rin.”

The crosswalk blinked white, and Haru started moving in the casual, nonchalant way that he seemed to always do regardless of what he said or did before.

“Isn’t Rin your boyfriend?” Makoto asked, speeding up his gait to catch up.

“Pfft—god no,” he chuckled. “We may mess around, but we wouldn’t last five seconds as a couple.”

They cut through an alleyway in between a corner store and a liquor store toward a beacon of neon red light. He could hear the pounding of the bass of music, the vibration of it tickling his feet. Ahead was a bright neon blinking sign that said “Samezuka” buzzing with every blink of the light. A couple of guys were showing their IDs to the bouncer out front. The dude was so massive, even Makoto wasn’t sure he could take him in a fight.

Haru nodded to the man, and he tilted his head up, expressionless, acknowledging his presence. Haru then continued down an even darker alley to a steel door splattered with graffiti. It looked like just any old employee entrance to a bar, but when Haru produced a key from his pocket and turned the rusted lock, it revealed only a staircase going down into a bottomless pit of darkness. The stairs were dimly lit by a single lightbulb that flickered and was covered in cobwebs. Makoto gulped. If Haru wanted to get rid of him, this would probably be the place, but he had a feeling that wasn’t what was going on here.

Haru looked back at him with a crooked smile.

“Scared?” he challenged with a rare glint in his eye.

Makoto gulped, but it wasn’t necessarily out of fear.

“I’ve seen worse,” he said, and it was true.

Haru shrugged and started his descent. The door shut behind them with a final steely bang. The closer he got to the bottom, he could hear a bunch of guys laughing and the blips and beeps of an old school arcade game. Haru got there first and the laughing guys all shouted, “Haru!” in a lighthearted, welcoming tone. Haru raised his hand in a short wave.

Makoto stepped down into the secret room. It was lit with rainbow Christmas lights and a strip of led light tape around the low ceiling. The floor was covered in sagging beanbag chairs and an equally worn-out couch. The beeping, Makoto figured out, had come from the old PAC Man machine near the entrance. On the far wall, there were multiple computer monitors full of code and a chucky TV that was playing a staticky version of a late-night show. There were three men gathered around the TV, taking turns smacking it to try to get the signal to focus.

“Haru, who’s this?” a woman’s voice came from the other end of the room.

Her long, red hair was tied into a high ponytail and she had several posters advertising what appeared to be a bodybuilding contest.

“No one,” Haru said.

“Haru brought a boy?!” a blond-headed man popped up from a beanbag chair.

“If Haru’s bringing a boy over here, you know it’s serious,” the woman said. “I’m Gou, by the way.”

“Makoto. Nice to meet you,” he said with a handshake.

The woman snatched his arm and examined it.

“Woooow!” she gaped. “Would you be interested in entering in my muscle contest? You are a very fine specimen.”

She shoved a flyer at him.

“Uhhh…” he said, looking to Haru for help, but he was gone from his side.

“Kou! Stop it you’re making our super attractive guest feel uncomfortable!” The blond said. “We haven’t even introduced everyone.”

“It’s Gou!” she shouted back at him.

“I’m Nagisa!” the boy said, ignoring her completely.

“Will someone please just help me fix this?!” a blue-haired, skinny man shouted as he fiddled with the buttons on the malfunctioning TV.

“Mr. Cranky Glasses is Rei,” Nagisa said.

“So…” a man with a sly smile sauntered over to Makoto. His pink hair waved gently in his face as he looked him up and down. “Where did Haru pick up such a fine piece of a—”

“It’s none of your business, Kisumi” Haru interrupted, walking toward the blue-haired man in glasses who was trying to fix the TV. 

Between the two of them, they were able to get the picture going.

“Haru, did you ditch our meeting yesterday so you could bang your new boyfriend?” Nagisa asked, complete with eyebrow wagging.

“Again, none of your business,” Haru deadpanned.

Makoto felt himself blushing bright red. Haru’s friends really had no brain to mouth filter.

“Well, we’ll fill you in on what you missed…” Gou (Kou?) said.

“Shh! It’s on!” Rei hissed, turning up the volume on the tv. Everyone stopped pestering Makoto and Haru to gather on the couch to watch the TV.

“ _We have a special guest tonight_ ,” the talk show host said to the camera. “ _Ladies and gentlemen please welcome entrepreneur and CEO of SecuriCorp XXXX Nanase!”_

Makoto blinked at the grainy screen as Haru’s father entered the stage with a roaring applause—the same man whose money was paying him, the same man who had hit his own son with a paperweight when he came out. Makoto looked at Haru who was staring at the screen like everyone else, but his eyes were drawn into himself, his gaze empty and far away.

Mr. Nanase sat down in the plush chair next to the host with a perfect-white-tooth, Botox smile.

“ _Thank you for having me, Yoshi,_ ” he said after everyone was seated.

“ _So, how does it feel to be the richest man in Japan? Did you ride here in one of your six Lambos or did you take the superyacht?_ ”

Nagisa gagged, “Ugh! Get off his dick, man” before Rei shushed him.

Mr. Nanase and the host joked about the exorbitant wealth he had for a while before getting down to business. Why was he even on TV?

Makoto didn’t really know much about the company the Nanases owned—SecuriCorp—but he assumed it was just another big-name hedge fund that seemed to grow money from nowhere. It turned out that SecuriCorp had been quietly producing all sorts of software for other large companies—even the military—for decades. Their latest work was apparently in facial recognition technology. Open your phone with your face? That was their code.

“ _So, your company’s stocks are blasting off, so that must mean you have something new coming. Can you give us an inside scoop?_ ” The host said.

“ _Well, I can’t say much, but I can tell you that you can look forward to a new generation of tech,”_ Mr. Nanase said. _“We at SecuriCorp pride ourselves in making the world a better place—a safer place—for our communities, and I’m really excited to roll out our latest project at the Tokyo Worldwide Technology Expo next week._ ”

 _“Make sure you tune into that, folks! Nanase, thanks for your time,”_ he shouted to a cheering crowd.

 _“Ah yes, time is money,”_ Mr. Nanase joked. The host laughed exaggeratingly.

“ _My man! After the break…”_

“That didn’t tell us anything!” Kisumi groaned.

“Calm down, you seriously didn’t expect the CEO to actually tell us anything on national TV, right?” Gou said.

“This is some bullshit!” Nagisa yelled, bouncing up from his seat to throw a fist at the ceiling.

Makoto leaned in next to Haru.

“What’s going on? Why are you guys watching this?” he asked him quietly, but he didn’t hear him. But Nagisa did.

“Ugh! Typical Haru not filling in the new recruits,” he said.

“Recruits?” Makoto asked.

Gou turned to him on the couch with a look of seriousness he hadn’t seen in her before.

“SecuriCorp has been up to something—something sinister—for years, and we’re so close to finding the truth,” she said.

“But we’re running out of time…” Rei moaned, pinching the bridge of his nose in frustration.

“What do you mean sinister?” Makoto asked carefully.

Now he knew why Haru insisted on not telling his friends that he was not only employed by the Nanases but that he was guarding one.

“SecuriCorp is trying to take over everything…” Nagisa explained.

“And everyone,” Kisumi added.

“It started out harmless—even helpful,” Gou started, getting up to show him a whiteboard showing what seemed to be a timeline of the company’s history. She pointed at the beginning, starting in the ‘80s. 

“Security cameras popped up at every corner of the city. Crime went down because the police were finally able to monitor the petty crime on the street,” she said, then fast-forwarded to the 2000s with her pointer finger.

“Then the new Smart Phones came out where you could unlock it with just your face. Put all their competitors out of business. You can’t find a phone without that feature now. Then came the facial recognition registry. They put it in the security cameras to identify criminals and missing people. Then…” she paused at a question mark at the end of the timeline.

“We don’t know what comes next. It’s been a slow erosion of society’s privacy for decades. And society willingly gave it up for them.”

“So, we created this club to keep tabs on what the company is doing. And maybe stop them,” Nagisa added.

“Wait…” Makoto shook his head. “You’re trying to take down a multi-billion dollar enterprise with a rag-tag team of 20-somethings and a couple of old computers?”

“That’s not all we have,” Kisumi smiled.

“There’s someone on the inside leaking information to us,” Gou said. “We’ve been storing data until we can bring our case to the public.”

He looked at Haru, who was still on the couch looking at the TV which was now advertising some sort of drug commercial.

“We think the company is going to announce something big at the Expo next week,” Gou continued.

“The next invasion of our privacy,” Rei muttered. 

“But it looks like there’s some trouble brewing up within the company,” Kisumi chimed in, acting as if he had the latest, hot gossip. “The CEO’s son got kidnapped last night.”

Makoto willed himself not to react.

“Really…” he said.

“Yeah, they kept it out of the news, but we read the police reports,” Kisumi said. “Of course, when we requested a public inquiry, the police said they couldn’t give us anything.”

Makoto scratched his chin as he thought.

“It’s an investigation in progress,” he muttered. 

“That’s what they told us!” Nagisa said.

“Anyway, I don’t think it’s a coincidence that someone would kidnap the heir to the company right before the Next Gen tech gets announced,” Gou said. “Someone isn’t happy that he’s going to take over the company.”

Makoto felt a sharp pang in his chest for Haru.

“Who is to say the son is going to take over the company?” Makoto asked.

“According to this classified brief we got from our mole, he is,” Gou said, sifting through a stack of folders on a messy desk before handing him a printout of an internal email.

It was an email from Mr. Nanase to the Board highlighting how his son, Haruka is “ready and enthusiastic” about completing his gap year and taking over the Next Gen project. Makoto scowled at the piece of paper. What kind of father makes this big of a decision for their son without their consent?

“That Ivy League prick doesn’t know how good he has it” Kisumi sneered. “I hope he shat his pants when he got kidnapped.”

“Wah!! Mummy, Daddy, I’ve been kidnapped, and they’ve stolen all my allowance money! How will I ever afford my weekly vacations to the Bahamas?!” Nagisa cried in a nasally voice that was supposed to mock Haruka’s.

“We never see anything of the son,” Gou explained, throwing the folders back down on the desk with a thwack. “He’s always abroad doing god knows what.”

“Do you think someone inside the company ordered the kidnapping?” Makoto asked, trying to steer the conversation away from mockery for Haru’s sake.

“It’s possible,” Rei mused. “The corporate structure is ruthless. It’s a ‘kill or be killed’ kind of environment.”

“Rei would know. He used to code for SecuriCorp,” Nagisa said, rubbing Rei’s shoulder.

“The way they treat their workers is abominable,” Rei bemoaned. “No sleep, no eating, only code…oh god…”

Rei dug his hands in his hair and pulled, his eyes going wild behind his glasses. Makoto had seen plenty of people who had that same look—the eyes of someone who has remembered what they were trying to forget.

“Rei-chan! Snap out of it! You don’t have to do that anymore!” Nagisa shouted, shaking him.

As Nagisa consoled Rei and the rest of the club distracted themselves with different conspiracy theories, Haru silently rose from his seat on the couch, walked to the back of the room and started playing the PAC Man machine. As the upbeat blipping music played, Makoto could tell by the way he clenched his jaw that Haru was upset. He excused himself and made his way to his “boyfriend’s” side.

“Are you alright?” he asked softly so no one else could hear.

“Fine,” he clipped as he digitally ran from ghosts.

Makoto bit his lip. He knew none of this was any of his business, but it felt like Haru had shown him this for a reason. It was as if Haru had left the door to his mind open a crack, and Makoto was still outside, wondering if it was okay to come in.

“It’s just that…your friends were making fun of you,” he said.

“No,” he snapped back as he mashed buttons hard. “They’re making fun of Haruka Nanase.”

“But you are Haruka Nanase,” he said.

As soon as the words left his mouth, he knew that was a mistake. Haru tensed his entire body. PAC Man was overrun and died in an explosion of pixels.

“No,” he hissed. “You don’t know me.”

Just when he thought he was making headway on being somewhat friendly with Haru, he had to go and fuck it up.

Haru pushed past him and stomped up the stairs.

“Leaving so soon? We still have to make a game plan for next week!” Gou shouted after him.

“Sorry! Gotta go!” Makoto called, turning the corner into the stairwell after Haru. “It was nice meeting you!”

He chased Haru out into the cold damp air of the alleyway. The sky had opened and spilled icy rain over them. Haru walked into the street with his head down, hands shoved into his jacket pockets.

“Haru!” he shouted after him, almost running to catch up.

“Go away,” he mumbled.

“You know I can’t do that,” he said ruefully.

Haru ground to a stop, hands now out of his pockets and balled into fists at his rigid sides.

“Yes, you can! You can do whatever you want!” he snapped, rain running down his face like tears.

“Haru…” 

He automatically reached for his arm to comfort him, but he flinched away.

“Let me take you home,” he said, letting his hand drop limply at his side. “We’ll talk about this when we get there.”

That was when a call came through his phone. It was the police station.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry it took so long to write this one. I'm not as good at writing plot setups as I am writing shameless fluff lol  
> Anyway, hope you enjoy!


	7. When Sosuke Met Rin

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> As Rin's path crosses Sosuke's Haru's situation becomes more complicated than they thought.

Sosuke was ten hours into a thirteen-hour shift when another officer dropped the clear Ziplock evidence bags of Haruka Nanase’s stuff on his desk.

“We’ve got nothing out of this,” he said. “Might as well give the kid’s phone back.”

Figures… he thought. They had arrested the guys at the warehouses that night Nanase was kidnapped, but they ended up letting them go because of a technical error—the security cameras in the area happened to be turned off that night, and the system couldn’t prove they had done any crimes. You would think the bullet holes on his cruiser would be enough evidence, but the red tape here was so thick it was a miracle anything got done at all.

Sosuke sighed. He knew this investigation was above his paygrade, but something didn’t sit right with him about all this. Something told him that this was more than just a gang looking to get ransom money.

He punched the number he knew by heart on the old, corded phone on his desk.

After three rings, he picked up.

“Hey, Makoto. Come pick up your client’s shit,” he grumbled before hanging up.

He felt bad for his friend and roommate. Sosuke’s limited interactions with Nanase had been sour at best. He couldn’t imagine his sweets-loving, mama’s boy best friend endure even an hour with that billionaire-spawn. But when Makoto got the call that night of the kidnapping, he knew he would take the job. They were two months behind on rent and had been living off cup-a-noodle for weeks.

He needed to remind Makoto to stop being so selfless all the time.

***

Rin had gotten a text from Nagisa that Haru had abruptly left the club after watching his father’s performance on late-night TV. That couldn’t be good. He had to deal with Haru’s mood swings for years now, but you wouldn’t know he had some serious anxiety if you didn’t know him. That boy had the emotional range of a potato.

He figured it would be best to check on him, even though that Makoto guy was surely following him around—if Haru hadn’t figured out how to ditch him yet. That was another thing about Haru—he was an escape artist.

Even as a kid, Haru was sneaky as fuck. He lost count of the number of times he snuck out of their room in boarding school to the indoor pool late at night. He would often come with him so they could race, and the night usually ended with them escaping before security could find them. No one suspected him because Haru rarely said anything to anyone during school—only speaking in clipped sentences when spoken to. He simply disappeared into the background until people forgot he was there.

That’s what Haru looked like when Rin saw him walking down the alleyways in the rain—like he wanted to disappear.

“You worry me, you know that?” Rin said, leaning into him so that they could share his umbrella.

“Shut up. I’m fine,” he sighed.

He was soaked to the bone and shivering a little, from the cold or the anxiety, he couldn’t tell. Haru would never tell him.

“You’re clearly not, but whatever” he grumbled, then added softly, “I’m here for you, okay?”

Haru looked away, mouth held in a thin line.

Makoto came up behind them and told him they were headed to the police station to pick up Haru’s phone. So much for ditching the guy. They walked the five sopping blocks in the rain until they got to the precinct. The police station was a bit run down—they had been in a budget freeze for nearly half a decade, but none of those rich fucks in the skyscrapers downtown wanted to pay their fair share in taxes, so this was what was left of the law.

They entered through a murky bulletproof glass door up to the officer at the front desk.

“Hey, is Sosuke around?” Makoto asked the man who looked heavily overworked and underpaid. “He has some of my client’s possessions released from evidence.”

The man punched the call button and muttered “Officer Yamazaki” into the speaker.

Deadbolts clicked from the door separating the civilians from the police and a tall, broad-shouldered man in a dark blue uniform stepped out. His eyes were bright blue and his gaze heavy when he glanced at Rin.

_Damnnnn…_

Makoto and Sosuke gave a friendly handshake.

“How’s it going Sousuke?” he asked.

“Eh, the same. Catching shoplifters, giving out speeding tickets…paperwork,” he said. His voice was deep and a bit raspy.

If he could get some of that…

“This is Haru…” Makoto said, gesturing to the boy disassociating behind him.

“We’ve met,” Sosuke deadpanned.

Haru looked blankly at the scuffed cream-colored wall, totally over all of this by now. Meanwhile, Rin was trying to fuck this man with just his eyes. It must have worked because Sosuke was now staring back at him with a slight glint of amusement in his eye. He nodded toward him.

“Who might you be?” he asked.

His voice rang up his spine and gave him goosebumps.

“Rin,” he said, smiling a sharp-tooth grin. One side of Sosuke’s lips tilted upward into a smirk.

“Nice to meet you,” he mumbled, staring into his fiery red eyes for a beat too long to be friendly.

_Got ‘em._

Makoto cleared his throat, and the spell was broken. _Bastard._

“Come with me. You can recover your belongings in the interrogation room,” he said to Makoto, not Haru.

If Haru was trying to disappear, it was working.

“Do you need another statement from Haru?” Makoto asked.

“No…but there are some things I would like to discuss,” he said opening the bolted door and holding it ajar with one massive shoulder.

Rin made sure to brush past him a tiny bit too closely when he walked by. He got a whiff of leather, Old Spice, and sweat. His flaming gay heart was pounding. 

They were led into a steel room with a blackout, mirrored window. Rin wondered if there was anyone listening in on them from the other side of the glass. Haru’s phone and wallet were on the cold steel table in the center of the room. Haru pocketed them without checking to see if there was any money left in there. Haru never carried any cash.

Haru turned toward the door, ready to leave, but Sosuke blocked him.

“Take a seat,” he said, leaving no room for arguments. Haru gave him a glare that could slice a man, but Sosuke seemed unaffected.

Rin could tell when Haru didn’t like someone…and Haru seemed to _really_ not like Sosuke. He wondered what he did to piss Haru off this much. 

Haru turned slowly and pulled out a chair with a deafening screech, steel legs scratching the floor. He plopped down and crossed his arms over his chest and moped. Rin tried not to laugh, but Haru’s pouting was always hilarious.

“What?” Haru asked.

Sosuke took a breath.

***

“I know I’m not supposed to discuss the intricacies of an active investigation,” Sosuke said, pulling out the other chair across the table from Nanase. “But I feel you have the right to know.”

“Know what?” Makoto asked as he stood behind his client.

He stole a glance at Rin, whose eyes bored into him like two pinpoints of burning sunlight being shone onto him through a magnifying glass. He was captivating, but he couldn’t think of that now. He had to get this off his chest.

“The facial recognition cameras were disabled by the warehouses the night you were kidnapped,” he said to Makoto.

He knew he was risking his job by telling them this, but now Makoto was involved in this mess. He couldn’t let his friend go back out there with Nanase blind.

Nanase blinked at him, looking bored. _This prick…_

“When we ran the system on the guys we picked up…the guys who shot at us, the data came up blank,” he continued, slowly.

“What does that mean?” Makoto asked.

He leaned in closer to them as if someone were listening.

“I think someone hacked into the system and wiped the facial recognition registry. Whoever wanted Nanase kidnapped, ensured that they wouldn’t get caught.”

“So what? They hacked the system. I’m sure criminals have a knack for trying not to get caught,” Rin said.

“See that’s the thing…no one has ever hacked the system before. Only people within SecuriCorp have access to the code. I think whoever kidnapped you has ties to the company…”

Haru abruptly got up from his chair with another screech.

“I’m leaving.”

“You can’t leave! We need to figure this out. Listen, you’re not safe out there”

“No, you listen,” Haru turned on Makoto. He was a head shorter than him and much skinnier, but something told him that Haru could hold his own in a fight.

Sosuke slowly rose from his seat and his hand touched the taser on his belt out of habit.

“I don’t give a shit what Securicorp or my parents do,” he hissed. “I’m just trying to mind my own fucking business, and you and everyone else is bringing me back into it. I’m _done._ ”

***

Shit, Haru was _pissed._ Rin had never seen him so heated—so at the end of his rope. He knew Haru could tolerate a lot of shit—that was the way he was raised—but this seemed to boil him over to a point he was worried Haru would do something destructive—something self-destructive.

He reached out to him and placed a hand on his shoulder. Haru’s muscles were coiled so tight he thought they might snap.

“Haru. Breathe,” he whispered.

He let out an angry huff through his nose.

“I’m taking Haru home,” he said firmly.

Sosuke took his hand off his belt and sighed.

“Just…think about what I said,” he said.

Rin gave a mock salute, grabbing Haru’s arm and leading him out the door. Makoto followed behind. He guessed that couldn’t be helped.

This whole thing was turning into a shitshow, and Rin was able to distract Haru enough to keep him from blowing up. He wasn’t sure if he would be so lucky this time.


End file.
